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Post Game: Improvement in the 2nd half

UMGriz75 said:
The second half was reassuring that there is a football team there, but, I also got the sense that the Griz were able to take advantage of a "gassed" St. Francis. That's not going to happen in the BSC.
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We also aren't going to be seeing any NFL talent in the BSC.
 
mrknowitall said:
BadlandsGrizFan said:
Why was Yamen out...
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As for Gus I can't figure out the problem, is it lack of experience, too much juice not enough juice, he seems even keel enough but man bad Gus looks confused and clumsy and we get games like Cal Poly Ndsu2 and the first half tonight. Good Gus is the best QB in the conference and we get games like Ndsu1 SDSU and EWU and the 2nd half tonight. We should be able to pencil in 400-500 yards per game and 4-6 TDs. per game because he has that much talent. I did notice before the final drive of the first half the camera went on Coach Stitt, and the look on his face went from WTF is happening to we got this under control in about 2 seconds and from there on out things improved so he must be able to read Gus . For the Griz and Gus's sake I hope he can figure it out because he made some throws in the 2nd half that the only other QBs who make are playing in the NFL. The good news it was only 1 half of football, the bad news is it has spanned 2 seasons. I hope it is fixable otherwise we are only going to beat bottom feeders like MSU.
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You can try to polish a turd all you want but at the end of the day, it's still a turd
 
I have been excited about Gus since he announced he would become a Griz at West High. Now he is (I believe), a fifth year senior and he seems to pick up where he left off after last year's NDSU debacle. Two fumbles, an interception and losing the ball several more times upon contact with the ground (WTF is up with the headfirst slides?). Part of it is on the O-line which seems to have a hard time handling pressure and doesn't seem to have evolved as far as we would like. A good team would have beaten us yesterday. We don't have the luxury of giving up three or four turnovers a game and taking an entire half to figure out what we're doing. Check out the numbers for EWU's new QB or Alabama's true freshman QB. Gus is great right up until the ball is snapped. Then if conditions are perfect, he can make the throw or the play, otherwise, all hell can break loose. Hang on the ball! A fifth year senior should be in control of the situation a lot more than he seems to be.
 
The statement i remember best on the tv coverage was; "they need to get some people that can tackle on the special teams."
 
Stitt gets a C- that is very generous The defense doesn't keep us in the game early it could have been a rout- against a good team we would down 20. Stitt will probably blame the defense again for being behind at half. I know its the first game but we have to get better fast.
 
I am glad we won. However stats don't win games. The Griz took over the 2nd half of a game against a team with 45 scholarship players. The Flash just did not have the depth for the entire game. I imagine if they offered the same number of scholarships the Griz do we may have lost that game.
I said yesterday that watching some other BSC teams play the Griz are in for a rough seaso. I honesty think we will be lucky to finish .500. Can the Griz get better as the season goes on, sure. However so can the other teams in the BSC.
I love the Griz but what we saw yesterday was sad. Can anyone say the team we saw yesterday could beat NDSU, EWU, UC Davis or many others ?
Not looking to be negative. But this years Griz team on offense needs a ton of work.
 
Inspector Griz said:
I am glad we won. However stats don't win games. The Griz took over the 2nd half of a game against a team with 45 scholarship players. The Flash just did not have the depth for the entire game. I imagine if they offered the same number of scholarships the Griz do we may have lost that game.
I said yesterday that watching some other BSC teams play the Griz are in for a rough seaso. I honesty think we will be lucky to finish .500. Can the Griz get better as the season goes on, sure. However so can the other teams in the BSC.
I love the Griz but what we saw yesterday was sad. Can anyone say the team we saw yesterday could beat NDSU, EWU, UC Davis or many others ?
Not looking to be negative. But this years Griz team on offense needs a ton of work.
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1 game. Let's put down the tin foil hats, the pitchforks, and the fire stitt signs for at least 4 games
 
Inspector Griz said:
I am glad we won. However stats don't win games. The Griz took over the 2nd half of a game against a team with 45 scholarship players. The Flash just did not have the depth for the entire game. I imagine if they offered the same number of scholarships the Griz do we may have lost that game.
I said yesterday that watching some other BSC teams play the Griz are in for a rough seaso. I honesty think we will be lucky to finish .500. Can the Griz get better as the season goes on, sure. However so can the other teams in the BSC.
I love the Griz but what we saw yesterday was sad. Can anyone say the team we saw yesterday could beat NDSU, EWU, UC Davis or many others ?
Not looking to be negative. But this years Griz team on offense needs a ton of work.
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The upside is that we have a season to improve

.....with Poly, UNI, NAU, and EWU on tap it will be a steep learning curve!
 
No point in belaboring anything. It's a young team, will likely get better with experience. How much better they play next week will be a big indicator of things to come.

The Jerome kid was amazing.
 
watched the game again without stress. Things I noticed:

-A ton of R-Frosh and R-Soph players.
-Most players, except the O-line look very small. Could just be me, I know they are not. (some are)
-Defense looks to be very fast to the ball, liked that.
-ST sucks.
-we have a kicker and punter!
-up tempo was not up tempo for about 3 quarters.
-SFU is a very good team. (22, holy crap!)
-defense won this game by letting the O find itself.

---Griz better fix the 1st half shit or UNI is going to destroy them. It very well could be a very long flight home next week.
 
UMGriz75 said:
Bob Meseroll had some observations this morning.

So Bob Stitt wants Montana to be Montana again.

At least that's what he told reporters recently.

"... We want to be a Montana again," the Griz football coach said prior to Montana's opening matchup Saturday night against Saint Francis. "The reputation that's coming into this game is accomplished by teams from the past.

"Montana is a team that goes out and competes every single week and wins conference championships and has a chance to go into the playoffs very deep. ... We want to be Montana again and we don't feel that we've been Montana the last few years."

What Montana doesn't do was more evident during a lackluster first half that left some wondering what it is the Griz are working on behind closed doors. The secrecy surrounding practice from spring ball into the fall rivals only that of the Manhattan Project.

Montana doesn't turn the ball over on its first two possessions against a team that awards just 45 scholarships and had to travel 2,000 miles to get to Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

Montana doesn't allow a lesser team from a conference that has one FCS playoff win to its credit take a lead at halftime.

Montana doesn't commit senseless personal fouls to extend opponent's drives and others -- like a delay of game following a punt -- that kill drives of its own.

Montana does run efficient 2-minute drills that result in scores just before intermission, even if it was just a trey. Inefficiency in the red zone was a trademark of last season's team, but settling for field goals isn't going to get the Griz "into the playoffs very deep."

In its own house, Montana does come out and establish that fact at the beginning of the second half, but Montana doesn't relinquish that nearly instantaneously with sloppy special teams play.

Montana doesn't follow every good play with an equally bad one,
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There's more.
http://missoulian.com/sports/college/montana/bob-meseroll-montana-has-a-ways-to-go-to-
be/article_9cf9a0f9-617e-54c9-8b30-a81f2176b079.html
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Come on Bob, tell us how you really feel. :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
Some thoughts I had on the game:

This was a great first game test - St. Francis' D was pretty good and they had a solid run game, as well as a stud SS / Kick returner / punt returner. They gave the Griz trouble with some things that hopefully the Griz will be able to take care of between now and UNI.

Things I thought were good to see:
- Semenza going 2 for 2 on field goals - one from 46 yards and the other from 30ish(?) And hitting all his PATs. Let's see if he can hang onto that from game to game.

- Solid game punting for Williams as well.

- Gus figuring things out in the second half. Most of the time last season, you knew if you were getting "Good Gus" or "Bad Gus" very early in the game. If "Bad Gus" showed up in the first qtr, it usually stayed that way. It was good to see him put it back together after having a rough go the last half of the SDSU playoff game, a terrible NDSU rematch and a very blah first half of this game. Let's be honest, "Bad Gus" is pretty terrible, while "Good Gus" could keep you in any game you were playing. It seems like these games that he had last year where "Bad Gus" showed up it turned into a loss (Liberty (yes he got hurt, but he wasn't playing well at all before that), the NDSU playoff game.

- Favors looking good on the few carries he had and picked up his blitz assignments - he continues to grow in those areas.

- The running game getting going in the fourth quarter - we got the ball with about 7 minutes left and ran every play but two, and scored our last TD with about 3 ish minutes left.

- Both Calhouns and Keenan Curran had an excellent game.

- Josh Horner continues to be Mr. Reliable. He catches almost everything his way and it doesn't seem like he is "fast enough" to get as open as he does, but when he's open, it is usually by quite a bit. I really liked Horner getting in Brady's ear after he missed them having numbers on the outside about 3 times in a row when he gave the ball to the RB who got stuffed in the middle of the line.

- Sandry and Strong might be the best FS and SS combo we've had in the back of the D for quite some time.

- Buss had a nice game at linebacker.

Things I didn't like:
- Special teams coverage - though watching on TV you rarely get a good idea of if it was someone blowing their lane coverage. I can't really say for sure if it was bad coverage, SFU's returner being really good, or maybe a combination of both. I will say it was good to see the coaches adjust and trying different things after they'd been burned doing standard Kickoffs - it didn't always work but it was nice to see them switch strategy.

- Nguyen (as usual) and was it Lyons? Making questionable decisions on returning the punt or letting it bounce.

- Seeing "Bad Gus" in the first half. Woof.

- SFU's RB just spinning and bulling his way out of tackles - it looked like guys were there and were wrapping, but he was running through them. Something to watch the rest of the year.

- The D giving up a looong pass play toward the end of the game after doing so well at taking care of it - looked like Sandry just didn't get enough depth in his zone and got caught flat footed.

- Seeing Weyer go down - nut good when you lose your starting center.

- The OL not being able to do anything in the running game outside of the first drive and the 4th quarter.

- Sometimes the OL pass blocking was good, other times not so good. Would like to see s
more consistency there, though not sure how much of that is on Gus.

Something to remember when thinking about the offensive struggles - Pflu's offense WITH JJ struggled the coaches first full year and about 3 /4 games into the second year in started to come together, then when JJ went bananas against BBQ-U throwing 6 TDs is when it really took off. I wouldn't be surprised if we see something similar this year.

Overall, a mixed bag. Definitely some real bright spots but also some things to really clean up. It was great to get the win, and hopefully they'll have a solid week of practice leading up to the UNI game. That will be a tough game for sure. I think it'll be a real measuring stick early on. Go Griz!
 
MissoulaMarinerFan said:
Some thoughts I had on the game:

This was a great first game test - St. Francis' D was pretty good and they had a solid run game, as well as a stud SS / Kick returner / punt returner. They gave the Griz trouble with some things that hopefully the Griz will be able to take care of between now and UNI.

Things I thought were good to see:
- Semenza going 2 for 2 on field goals - one from 46 yards and the other from 30ish(?) And hitting all his PATs. Let's see if he can hang onto that from game to game.

- Solid game punting for Williams as well.

- Gus figuring things out in the second half. Most of the time last season, you knew if you were getting "Good Gus" or "Bad Gus" very early in the game. If "Bad Gus" showed up in the first qtr, it usually stayed that way. It was good to see him put it back together after having a rough go the last half of the SDSU playoff game, a terrible NDSU rematch and a very blah first half of this game. Let's be honest, "Bad Gus" is pretty terrible, while "Good Gus" could keep you in any game you were playing. It seems like these games that he had last year where "Bad Gus" showed up it turned into a loss (PSU, Liberty (yes he got hurt, but he wasn't playing well at all before that), the NDSU playoff game.

- Favors looking good on the few carries he had and picked up his blitz assignments - he continues to grow in those areas.

- The running game getting going in the fourth quarter - we got the ball with about 7 minutes left and ran every play but two, and scored our last TD with about 3 ish minutes left.

- Both Calhouns and Keenan Curran had an excellent game.

- Josh Horner continues to be Mr. Reliable. He catches almost everything his way and it doesn't seem like he is "fast enough" to get as open as he does, but when he's open, it is usually by quite a bit. I really liked Horner getting in Brady's ear after he missed them having numbers on the outside about 3 times in a row when he gave the ball to the RB who got stuffed in the middle of the line.

- Sandry and Strong might be the best FS and SS combo we've had in the back of the D for quite some time.

- Buss had a nice game at linebacker.

Things I didn't like:
- Special teams coverage - though watching on TV you rarely get a good idea of if it was someone blowing their lane coverage. I can't really say for sure if it was bad coverage, SFU's returner being really good, or maybe a combination of both. I will say it was good to see the coaches adjust and trying different things after they'd been burned doing standard Kickoffs - it didn't always work but it was nice to see them switch strategy.

- Nguyen (as usual) and was it Lyons? Making questionable decisions on returning the punt or letting it bounce.

- Seeing "Bad Gus" in the first half. Woof.

- SFU's RB just spinning and bulling his way out of tackles - it looked like guys were there and were wrapping, but he was running through them. Something to watch the rest of the year.

- The D giving up a looong pass play toward the end of the game after doing so well at taking care of it - looked like Sandry just didn't get enough depth in his zone and got caught flat footed.

- Seeing Weyer go down - nut good when you lose your starting center.

- The OL not being able to do anything in the running game outside of the first drive and the 4th quarter.

- Sometimes the OL pass blocking was good, other times not so good. Would like to see s
more consistency there, though not sure how much of that is on Gus.

Something to remember when thinking about the offensive struggles - Pflu's offense WITH JJ struggled the coaches first full year and about 3 /4 games into the second year in started to come together, then when JJ went bananas against BBQ-U throwing 6 TDs is when it really took off. I wouldn't be surprised if we see something similar this year.

Overall, a mixed bag. Definitely some real bright spots but also some things to really clean up. It was great to get the win, and hopefully they'll have a solid week of practice leading up to the UNI game. That will be a tough game for sure. I think it'll be a real measuring stick early on. Go Griz!
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Brady didn't play at PSU
 
What a terrific day to have GRIZ football back. It is always a great experience for me to attend GRIZ games. The 1st home game every season is always the best for me. SFU defense was much better than I expected. They threw a lot of things at Brady. The 1st half all those looks successfully frustrated Gustafson an our OL. In that 1st half there were a lot of blocking break downs and bad decisions by Gustafson. Brady really forced a lot more passes into tight coverage more often than he normally does. He has to recognize those tight coverages and take better care of the ball. Which I feel, he likely will for the majority of the time.

Fortunately, the defense kept the GRIZ in the game the 1st half. Despite special teams return coverage and the offense continually putting the defense in terrible position, to only give up 10 1st half points was amazing and fortunate. The 2nd half the offense woke up. Both the Brady and the OL played much better. It looked to me it was simple as the coaches making them aware of things in detail at halftime. The offense was damn good in the 2nd half. During halftime, myself and others commented, how surprised we were to not see the GRIZ take the top off and challenge SFU's defense more often, which has become a consistent part of the GRIZ offense under Stitt. In the 2nd half, the GRIZ did just that, with terrific results.

I hope that is a prelude of things to come moving forward. I'd love to see our bigger WR's have opportunities to challenge smaller DB's in 1 on 1 coverage more often. I also hope we learn to get the ball to JLM more often. That kid is absolutely fun to watch make defenders look silly. I hope to see him be our #1 punt returner. As for running back, I like the 3 man rotation. To me, Favors really stood out. I feel he has earned more touches and to be a bigger part of the offense.

Defensively, I love the depth and the aggressiveness. It can get better as they get a few key players healthy and stop giving up 1 or more big plays per game. That was a problem last season as well. I loved how tight and how often our DB's played their WR's.

Considering the inconsistent 1st half offense, the GRIZ were fortunate to pull away in the 2nd half. We saw many good things to build on. They absolutely have to improve on blocking schemes, decision making, and special teams coverage. It is hard to believe how badly the coverage teams looked. The Northern Iowa game will be a huge test for the GRIZ. A hard fought W will be huge for the confidence and momentum builder. I have faith the GRIZ Defense will matchup well with Northern Iowa. As for the offense, how long will it take for all the new pieces to gel and find consistency?
 
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